A Fact of Life: Phoenix Would Lose Jobs in USAirways/AMR Merger

US Airways, seeking broad support for a merger with AMR, said long ago that it would give up its Phoenix headquarters and move to Fort Worth, Texas.

PHOENIX -- ( TheStreet) -- A new study said that if US Airways ( LCC) merges with AMR ( AAMRQ.PK), Phoenix could lose thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue.

How many jobs and how many millions? The number is unclear. A study done for the North Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce said that US Airways employs 9,239 people in Arizona including about 2,000 in its headquarters, which could be lost. The airline said headquarters employment is only about 750. Spokeswoman Michelle Mohr said the airline's Arizona work force includes about 2,000 non-union jobs, which may explain the discrepancy.

In order to gain support for its effort to merge with AMR, US Airways has said it would retain the larger airline's Fort Worth, Texas, headquarters as well as its name.

Joe Galli, executive director of the North Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce, said he realizes that a merger may or may not occur and that the chamber cannot save every job in the event of a merger. However, he said, "We wanted to put some numbers out there so that people are aware of what impacts could be pending. We're hopeful they keep as much of the headquarters operation in Phoenix as they can.

"This is our hometown airline," Galli said. "Phoenix is the fifth- or sixth-largest city in the country, but we are a very tight knit community. A lot of our identity includes US Airways' presence here -- it probably goes a little bit beyond the bottom line job numbers," he added.

"We lived through a name change" when Phoenix-based America West Airlines merged with US Airways in 2005, Galli said. "We will probably live through another. But the importance of having them here for our economy can't be overstated." He said US Airways is the ninth-largest employer in Arizona.

The study said that if the state was to lose 2,000 jobs, annual state revenue from tax payments would fall by $11.4 million, and annual county and local government revenue would fall by another $9.5 million. Lost employment, given the multiplier effect of the lost jobs, would total 5,305 jobs.